The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to techniques for wireless local area network (WLAN) scanning in coexistence scenarios.
Many wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers are capable of wireless communication with other devices using multiple technologies including, for example, Wi-Fi signals, BLUETOOTH® (BT or Bluetooth) signals, near field communication (NFC) signals, and cellular signals such as long term evolution (LTE) signals. Because BT signals and some Wi-Fi signals may be transmitted at similar frequencies (e.g., in the ISM band, between approximately 2.4 and 2.5 GHz), it is desirable for wireless devices to reduce the amount of interference between Wi-Fi signals BT signals. For example, when a wireless device is facilitating a voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) call using Wi-Fi signals while also routing audio signals associated with the VoIP call to a wireless headset using BT signals (e.g., in a Synchronous Connection Oriented (SCO) call), transmission of Wi-Fi signals may interfere with reception of BT signals, which in turn may degrade the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of the SCO call. In such coexistence scenarios, WLAN operations and BT operations of the wireless device may need to be coordinated to reduce interference.
In a related aspect, when the wireless device is moved within a WLAN and/or between WLANs, the wireless device may periodically scan for nearby access points (APs), for example, to identify the best available AP with which to associate. Performing WLAN scanning operations while facilitating an SCO call may further degrade the MOS of the SCO call. Some wireless devices may not perform WLAN scanning operations during SCO calls to minimize interference between Wi-Fi signals and BT signals. However, avoiding WLAN scanning operations during SCO calls may prevent the wireless device from identifying the best available AP with which to associate, which in turn may also degrade the quality of the call when the STA is roaming between APs and/or between wireless networks.
Thus, there is a desire to minimize interference between Wi-Fi signals and BT signals during an SCO call without preventing the wireless device from performing WLAN scanning to identify the best available AP with which to associate.